IRAN PORT DEAL WILL BENEFIT ALL, SAYS INDIAN FOREIGN MINISTER
▶ New Delhi seeks to boost trade through Chabahar agreement, amid US warnings of sanctions
A deal to develop a port in south-eastern Iran is “for everyone’s benefit”, India’s Foreign Minister said.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said people should be open towards the 10-year agreement between the New Delhi and Tehran, signed on Monday.
Under this, India will operate Chabahar port, on the Gulf of Oman, close to Iran’s border with Pakistan.
The US has warned New Delhi that anyone considering business deals with Tehran could face sanctions.
But speaking at a book launch at Kolkata on Tuesday, Mr Jaishankar said the agreement was a positive development.
It is a “question of communicating and convincing and getting people to understand that this is actually for everybody’s benefit”, he said.
The port will help the partners promote trade with landlocked Central Asian nations and Europe, bypassing Pakistan, with which India has a tense relationship.
The deepwater port in Sistan and Baluchestan province will provide an alternative for trade between Iran, India and Afghanistan.
“I don’t think people should take a narrow view of it and they have not done so in the past,” said Mr Jaishankar.
He pointed out that Washington had previously held a more positive view about Chabahar.
“If you look at the US’s own attitude to Chabahar in the past, the US has been appreciative of the fact that Chabahar has a larger relevance. So, we will work at it,” said Mr Jaishankar.
The US has imposed more
than 600 sanctions on Iran and Iranian-affiliated entities, in response to Tehran’s nuclear programme and support for militant groups.
“I would let the government of India speak to its own foreign policy goals, vis-a-vis the Chabahar port, as well as its own bilateral relationship with Iran,” US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said on Tuesday. “Any entity,
anyone considering business deals with Iran, they need to be aware of the potential risk they are opening themselves up to, potential risk of sanctions.”
Under the agreement, India will invest about $120 million, with an additional $250 million in financing the port.
So far, 2.5 million tonnes of wheat and 2,000 tonnes of pulses have been shipped from India to Afghanistan through
Chabahar port, according to media reports.
The port and allied road network are considered to be a rival project to China’s Belt and Road initiative.
New Delhi has not joined Belt and Road and staged protests over the multibillion-dollar initiative, as it passes through parts of the disputed Kashmir region under Pakistan’s control that India claims as its
own. New Delhi also considers Beijing’s initiative as a threat to its security, with China expanding its economic and military influence in the AsiaPacific region.
The US has viewed India as a partner to contain Chinese influence in the region.
India’s Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal called the agreement a “historic moment in India-Iran ties”.